Kind of a crappy week

 Hey fam. 

Honestly this week just kinda sucked and I don't really want to write too much about it.  

After a bad week w not feeling like myself, having to drop a ton of people, and just feeling off, it made me grateful for all the other good weeks (opposition in all things) and for God's help carrying our burdens because really we couldn't do anything w out Gods help! I'm fine, but I'm just hoping this week will go a lot better! One thing I'll say tho, in all my sad moments this week I really tried to make an effort to just do little acts of service and put myself into the work to make others happy, and it helped a lot. I also gained a stronger testimony this week that God is aware of me even even my sad/lonely moments. This week in one of those moments I found and read an old letter from my sister savannah and it really helped me with exactly what I needed to hear. It was something she shared from her mission journal (in the first week of her mission from forever ago) and I'd like to share it. She said "i have been set apart, and now it's time to endure- or as we say in Spanish "perseverar hasta el fin." perseverar. I like that word. Perseverar through not being able to understand. Perseverar in diligent study. Perseverar in making goals, and perseverar in trusting God. My president said 'not everyone is searching for God's true church, but everyone's searching for happiness', so I will try to perseverar in spreading this happy news with a smile on my face"

I loved that. Thanks Sav! 

Guys life is hard sometimes, but it's so important that we perseverar. Perseverar hasta el fin (endure to the end) is the last part of the doctrine of christ and I think one of the most important parts. We're going to have hard days, hard weeks, and hard times in our life, but if we keep our head up and perseverar, God will help us through anything! We just have to keep enduring and he will bless us more than we can imagine!

I hope this email finds you all well and you know how much I love you all! Keep your head up and know God loves you! 

Pics

-spikeball in the pouring rain. We taught out neighbor kids how to play 

-an old guy gave us flowers on the side of the road

-a cat we found at the church 

POURING His Little Tender Mercies Down On Us

 This week was a very impactful week for me! It was such an interesting week so I'm going to share some of the days :) 

 

This week on Thursday we had a mission wide goodbye party for our mission president in Queretaro (which is like 3 hrs from our house) so we started the morning at 4am and partied all day with the whole mission! It was kinda overwhelming with all the emotions because I saw all my friends in the mission which was SO fun but also had to say goodbye to some of my best friends and say goodbye to the president and his wife which they've been like parents to me, so it was tough. But overall such a fun day! We had a face to face with our president, a testimony meeting, some awesome food, and had tournaments of soccer and basketball with everyone and then a mission wide soccer game where they chose 2 teams of 7 and I was chosen, *super honored to play w the Mexicans even tho they can all wreck me) but it was super rad! Being around everyone in the mission made me feel SO much love from my Heavenly Father because I know this is exactly where I'm supposed to be with who I'm supposed to be with so I'm so grateful. It was basically like another pday so it was awesome! 

Friday was one of the scariest moments of my life. We were chatting with an investigator through texts in an Uber drive and he was saying how depressed he was then he said he wasnt going to tell anyone but he was going to kill himself. I was like we need to call him RIGHT NOW, so we called him and he was bawling and told me that he was on a bridge(literally at that moment) and going to jump. He wanted me to record his last words and give them to his family, and then started sending a bunch of pictures of his family saying that he just couldn't live anymore and to tell his family he loved them and wanted them to know he was sorry for everything. My heart literally stopped (or started racing so fast I couldn't feel it was beating) and I realized that my words could literally be life or death for this person. I can't even remember what I said in those 30 minutes on the phone with him, but through the spirit and a lot of tears I testified stronger than I've ever testified about our worth as children of God and the healing power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. He said he prayed to know if God loved him and he didn't know if there even was a God anymore, and he didn't understand why me, a gringa from the U.S. cared so much about him and his life. It was so cool to testify of his worth and that maybe God himself wasn't there telling him on the call that he loved him but I was a representative of his son Jesus Christ and said that God sent me here to tell him that God loved him. I was able to calm him down after a while and say a prayer with him and I'm pretty sure that's the hardest I've ever prayed. To calm him down a bit I told him to think of all the things in his life that he's grateful for, how he really can see the love of God and he told me that me calling literally saved his life and was a testament that God knew and loved him.

Ngl that experience shook me up a bit but it made me so grateful that God was able to use me as an instrument in his hands and help save one of his precious lives. 

Saturday we had the baptism of Juan Mendoza who is literally one of the best people I've ever met in my life and it was probably one of the strongest moments I've ever felt the spirit. He showed up 30 min early (which is like 2 hrs in Mexican time lol) and he was GLOWING, SO excited to be baptized. Then he asked if we could kneel and pray with him before his baptism and he said the coolest prayer thanking Heavenly Father for this chance to change his life and start over and for meeting us misioneras to change his life. His whole baptism the spirit was SO STRONG and tears just flowed down his face through the messages and through a song that hna Butler and I sang and it was so cool. He is a testament to me that some people really are perfectly ready for the truth they just didnt know where to find it before. But I know God's timing is perfect, and who knows why it took this many years in his life to find the gospel, but now is definitely his time! 

Sunday we had an awesome sacrament meeting (juan was confirmed) and I seriously feel like seeing the testimony of juan so strong about baptism and the sacrament, it's made me once again realize how amazing these ordinances and covenants are and how much God loves us. We also werent planning on having any people at church yesterday bc everyone canceled, and another tender mercy was that 3 people showed who werent going to come. I felt like God was just POURING his little tender mercies down on us. 

Guys this week was crazy, but I feel like after this week my testimony is stronger than ever before. God loves us. We are his children. He is perfectly aware of us and you need to not forget that. He is our loving father, and w fathers day this weekend don't just send love to your dads here on earth (shout-out to my dad:) but also say a prayer of love and gratitude and try to become more like his son Jesus christ to really show Heavenly Father how grateful you are.

Guys I love you tons and I hope you are all doing great and if you're struggling right now, know that you can get through it ok? Sometimes were supposed to struggle to grow a bit! God never wants us just comfortable, he wants us growing. We got our cambios or transfer news yesterday night and I'm staying here in León another transfer to finish training hna Butler, and I'm going to be cap (or sister training leader) and I'm excited but very nervous too bc I've been very comfortable here and now it's time to grow a little more I guess, so please send your prayers my way ;) 

Love ya,

-hna Stone 

Pics

My favorite wall

Bap of Juan 

Sleepover w the hermanas to leave at 4 am:)

The generation squad 

Sunrise from the bus

Hna Butler y yo :) 

Fredrick my favorite hermana (who I just found out is coming to León!!!) 

 Whattup fam 

This week was full of good stuff. Some of these things are super random lol but I love it here

-we had 5 people at church and the services were SO GOOD! A little after the meeting we got a random text from Juan our investigator who's getting baptized Saturday and he was like "was that bread normal" (talking about the sacrament) and we were like well yeah, but its blessed, and he was like "don't worry it's nothing bad I was just wondering because when I ate it I felt something so strong and different. I felt the way I feel when you guys pray for me and my family and it's a feeling that is peaceful and tranquil but it's something I'll never be able to explain." And oh my heck when we got that text I just wanted to cry of gratitude for God letting Juan feel and recognize the difference of the spirit. God is preparing people that are SO prepared and Juan is a testament to me about that. Literally when we taught the word of wisdom he was like "I had a feeling I needed to stop smoking and drinking so 2 weeks ago I stopped..." every time we talk to him I'm left speechless knowing that really God has prepared him perfectly! His 3 kids want to be baptized but the mom (who they live w most the time) is kinda crazy so if you want to pray that she'll soften her heart I'd appreciate it :) 

- we found some new really cool people this week! We had to drop some good people who just stopped progressing which is always sad but God provides always! 

-I ate Dorielotes 5 nights in a row.... idk if I should be proud of that statement or embarrassed but it's the most Mexican I've ever felt lol. #noregrets. Also AAAAAH Mexican food is SO GOOD!!!

-We made friends w a bus driver and a few days later she recognized us walking down the road and flashed her full siren emergency lights and waved. I felt cool lol, in streets full of strangers, when people recognize you it's awesome!

- We visited guanajuato capital last pday also very cool- The buildings and everything were so colorful and it was beautiful! I want to come back and explore that city more, it has the most underground tunnels in the whole country!

-I had exchanges with an hermana who did NOT want to have exchanges w me (apparently she didn't really like me even though we'd never talked lol) but we ended up turning into super good friends and loving our time together! I'm so glad it all worked out!

- Last week I bought a little turtle for 100 pesos and it's so cute. Samuel Miguel aka "miguelito"

- worst part of the week, I saw the biggest spider of my life when we were cleaning the font and I literally got nightmares from it. Also random little thing- since starting the mtc Ive dreamt almost every single night and it's SO fun! I have some weird dreams lol but it honestly is a testimony to me that I know God is aware of me and cares about me enough to help me have dreams so I can enjoy sleeping even more lol. 

This week on a random day, in the middle of an actually really good day I started feeling down on myself picking myself apart, then I literally thought "what the heck, God would NOT want me to think these things, get out of my head Satan" and I said a prayer to help me withstand those feelings and just like that I felt the peace and love from Heavenly Father. Guys in these days so many people, including our natural man thoughts, are going to try to pick us apart, but DONT HEED TO WHAT THEY SAY! We studied that talk by Bednar from this last conference this week in relief society and I loved it (I would definitely recommend it). Satan and the world can only have the power we give them. Don't give heed to what the world and people in the great and spacious building are saying bc guess what the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only thing that can give you pure joy, not just worldly pleasure. 

I hope you all have the best week and know that I love you all!  

Day trip to capital

 Hey everyone! These last couple weeks have been great! Life's good and I'm trying to just soak up my time here :) 

Last week we had our zone conf and it was awesome (kinda sad because it was our last zone conf with this mission president bc were getting a new one) but it was rad still! I absolutely love my zone and area right now and things are going great with my comp! I feel very blessed! 

This last month of May (which is it just me or does it feel like may never even happened?) our mission broke its record again with 125 baptisms which is super cool to me knowing that this work is progressing right along!

 This weekend our friend Leticia got baptized and it was such a special experience! Her son Jose was my first convert in this area and after he was baptized I shared w him 1 nefi 8:12 from the book of mormón that says "And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit." I shared that and said "don't you want to share this new joy with your family?" And he said yes and actuallyyy shared the gospel with his mom by inviting her to come watch general conf with us at the church and after weve been teaching her since and now shes baptized  such a cool experience! It was also so cool because juanjo our other convert blessed the sacrament in sacrament meeting yesterday and ahh its so cool to see people progress spiritually! 

guys, GOD REALLY DOES LOVE YOU AND IS SOOO AWARE OF YOU! Every day here I am just overwhelmed with love knowing that this is right where I'm supposed to be with who I'm supposed to be. Try to find the joy that God is giving you right now even if it's hard to see or appreciate sometimes. One of my fav quotes has always been "find joy in the journey". Sometimes in our life we just want to enjoy the pretty mountain tops and views without any of the struggles, but some of the coolest, most beautiful things that can really strengthen us is the journey or hike up those steep slopes :) find joy in every day! (Ps also enjoy the actual mountains for me bc I do miss them) 

I love you all and hope you all know that God loves you even more. You guys have the amazing "fruit" or joy that this gospel brings, enjoy every taste of it and try to share it with someone else in your life that could use it! Thanks for everything!!

-hna Stone